Category Archives: TriFri

In more positive news, I rocked the sh*t out of my workout yesterday! It was my second crack at that crazy 1500 swim workout and I was scared. My energy was low when I arrived at the gym and I gave myself full permission to suck.

I did not suck! In fact, I kicked ass in 42:40! I know I shouldn’t be concerned about time in these early stages but whatever. It’s still exciting. I’m fairly certain the reason I was faster was because I managed to swim freestyle almost the entire workout! We’re talking like 100 meters breaststroke total! WOOOO! The swimming is clicking and I’m loving it!

After the swim, I got on the treadmill for an easy 3 mile run. My heart rate was so low, I thought my addled post-swim brain was misreading the pace. Wow. I finished with a 9:38 pace which I would be very pleased with in a triathlon.

Carbohydrates for the win. Ugh. Winning for workouts. Not winning for wedding dress. I HATE having to choose between bloaty carb belly (with excellent workouts) and svelte (but exhausted). Though, I suppose I win either way. 😀

The holidays have been amazing. Lots of delicious food, family time in Seattle and WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING! Can’t even tell you how fun it is to shop for a wedding dress as a fit person. Subject for a future post, I promise.

I realize I’m a day late and several dollars short recapping 2012 but I can’t let it go undocumented. This was a truly monumental year in my life. I discovered physical and emotional strength that I had no idea was in there.

* I Learned to Run

…..and it changed my life.

Who in the HELL is that woman? Not the woman who started 2012, that’s for sure.

I’ve spent the better part of the morning trying to write this paragraph. When I began the couch to 5k in February, my running intervals were around a 10 minute mile. I was neon pink and puffing at the end of each interval but I felt more alive than ever. I was awake. I started to push myself to go a liiiiiiittle bit faster in the last interval. A liiiiiiiiittle bit harder up the hill. I learned to push. I accepted and even welcomed discomfort.

One day, I woke up and was ready to run a race. It was f*cking awesome. I ran into a couple of good friends there so the pre-race excitement was off the charts. The sea of bobbing heads in front of me when the race began is one of my best memories of all time. I was swept up in the race energy and ran 5k without stopping for the first time ever!

The FINISH LINE. My new favorite place on earth.

I was hooked. So hooked that three days later, I took a huge leap of faith and registered for a half marathon. To be run on my 30th birthday! I spent the next 4.5 months slathering sunscreen on myself, foam rolling, running, and exceeding the sh*t out of my expectations. Double digit runs? Wikiwhaaaaa? I completed my first half marathon. It was hard. It was totally worth it.

During this process I became a runner. I know many people who run much faster than me and are reluctant to refer to themselves that way. I have no problem with it. From the moment I arrived at that first race, my identity expanded to include “runner.” I found myself reading every book/blog/training plan I could find, plotting workouts, talking about running, writing about running, running about running. I was a runner.

Here are the stats:

* I Got Strong, Courtesy of The Dailey Method

I was scared to return to Dailey Method. I had gone in early 2011 and though it was clearly effective, it was very embarrassing and frustrating. I was heavier and that was challenging but it was really my negative feelings that held me back. This year, I had some mojo building from running, weight loss, and regular yoga practice. The first class back was nearly better than my best classes in 2011. I was ready to get strong. And I really, really did. In April, I joined the trade staff and continued to regularly attend classes as my primary form of cross-training. It absolutely transformed my body but more importantly, made me feel like a strong, sexy, fit beast. It also kept my completely free of injury by strengthening and stretching my running muscles.

Happy girl in her happy place

My TDM improvement is a bit harder to quantify than running but I’m still a stat girl. According to my records, I attended 109 classes. Booyah.

* #TriFri

Blogs have been a huge source of inspiration over the last year. I absolutely love marathon recaps and they introduced the possibility of racing into my consciousness. A number of the ass-kicking ladies I read are triathletes. Reading about speedy marathons are amazing and motivating but nothing blows my mind like triathlon. It’s just so badass! I started to maybe, kinda, wonder what that might be like.

(!!!!!!!)

#TriFri (Triathlon Friday) began with stationary cycling at the gym. I pedaled like a maniac, sweating my balls off. LOVED IT. As I walked from the bike to the treadmill, I looked at the pool. Baby steps.

I grew up swimming during the summer and on vacations but never in an organized fashion. Like with strokes. So I bought a suit, goggles, and swim cap and spent the next several months working up the nerve to look like a fool in the pool. Once I finally did, I loved it. TriFri was officially on!

One more major obstacle: I’ve never ridden a bike. Pretty scared to do it. Scared of looking like a fool and also scared of maybe killing a child. So I went to the beach and my breezy, Sonja, helped me ride!

SO FUN.

It was scary and fun and awesome. I spent the next 6 months pondering getting a bike of my own. Then I did.

THIS IS MY FRIEND, THE BIKE.

Rolling.

So, in summation:

*I worked from running 30 seconds to 13.64 miles!

* I ran 5 races!

* I learned to swim freestyle (in progress)!

* I learned how to ride a bike (in progress)!

* I built a 6-pack and some serious Michelle Obama arms. Sorry for the straight-up brag but……not sorry.

* I also broke off my engagement, moved into an apartment, realized four days later that my fiancé was the love of my life, we repaired our relationship, I moved back in, and couldn’t be happier! And I did the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) intern program which was super challenging and scary and amazing. Oh, and I went to Hong Kong and Disneyland (twice!) Yeah, 2012 was a big one…

* I changed my life. I did infinity things that were scary. I became strong.

So, swimming is still really hard and I’m kind of obsessed with figuring out how to do it. Earlier this week, I did my second workout of 400 meters. It was difficult but I had a few lengths of the pool that felt easy and fluid. I had many more that left me gasping for air or coughing up water after attempting to breathe bilaterally. Still, I loooooooooove being in the pool.

Despite still struggling, I decided to introduce swimming into TRIFRI! We’re having major storms in the Bay Area (sorry to all the folks running North Face 50 and CIM!) so it was a perfect day for my first sprint tri: gym style!

I packed up a ridiculous amount of gear and headed to 24 Hour.

So, so much crap…

First up: swim! My plan was 4 x 25, 4 x 50, 4 x 25. I evidently can’t read a calendar and my workout was cut slightly short by the aqua workout class. I managed to do 350 in just under 16 minutes. I’m pretty sure that’s extremely slow but it was only my third swim workout! I have yet to make it a full lap freestyle without either my lungs or legs giving out. I was able to get through the 50’s by switching to breaststroke. I focused on keeping my head down, hips up, legs straight and rotating my body. With only 50 yards (or meters or whatever the distance of my pool is) left, the aqua aerobics ladies started to do their thing and I was out!

Swim: 15:48

So, you know you’re insane when you’re rushing through your “transition” during your gym workout. What can I tell you? It’s important for me to do things correctly AND efficiently. You can’t fight your nature. Unless you’re trying to put a Lululemon Power-Y on a soaking wet body. It was like trying to roll a condom over a side of beef. Finally, I was semi-dry and onto the bike!

My bike plan was 12 miles, mostly cruising, some hills. Did that. Listened to Pandora. Texted a bit with my beezy. Sweated like I have never sweated before. Had a BALL!

Bike: 29:47.

I love that pace because with my major cycling fear, it will take me three times that long to ride that distance on a road with other humans. Hurrah for stationary.

Off the bike and onto the run. This “transition” consisted of wiping down my drenched body and hopping onto the treadmill. #NailedIt. I got on a treadmill, set it to 6.0 and cruised. I felt really…..(come si dice?)…..AWESOMEAMAZINGBALLS. I didn’t have any noticeable heaviness in my legs. I actually felt really fresh and warmed up. That conservative pace was nice for the first half mile and I progressively sped up throughout the 3.1 miles.

Run: 29:28 / 9:30 avg

At the end, I was a bit tired but had much, much, much more in the tank. Perfect for a workout and very encouraging. I have never been so sweaty in my life but had a HUGE smile on my face as I chugged water in the locker room. This workout was SO. FUN. And illuminating. I have a lot of work to do before I can go “live” as a triathlete but it feels like something I was really meant to do.

And, much to my happy surprise, someone is coming around to the abbreviation “TriFri”:

He’s an emoji savant.

Months and months ago, I bought a suit, goggles, and a swim cap. They’ve sat in the trunk of my car for months as I got comfortable with the idea of looking like a damn fool in the pool. I must have hit that sweet spot where blog reading, YouTube video watching, and enthusiasm converge because today was the day!

Last night, I was researching pool workouts but most of them were 1200-1600 yards minimum. Hahahaha, get real. Then I found this fabulous website with much shorter workouts for true n00bs. I chose this one:

My first sony, ehrm, SWIMMY!

Short and sweet. Lots of breaks for breathing. A little drill that would allow me to focus on body position, rotation, and breathing.

Things I learned from my first swimming workout:

* People are nice and no one laughs at you or gives you rude looks, no matter how slow/uncoordinated/near-death you are!

* Swimming requires a shit ton of gear. I intended to run afterward but I forgot underwear, my iPhone arm-band, and headphones. I can’t believe anything, let alone three things, were missing from the arsenal of crap I brought.

* My gym either doesn’t have any buoys/kickboards/noodles or they keep them locked up. Weak!

* I am much better at breathing to the right. When I attempted to breath on my left side, I ended up rotating weird and getting tons of water in my mouth.

* It’s hard to slow down while maintaining momentum but the pace that I defaulted to left me huffing and puffing at the end of each length. Next time, I’m going to play with my pacing and time each length or lap. It is so time for the Garmin 310 to come off my wishlist and onto my wrist. Santa, can you hear me?

* I loooooooove being in the water! I have since I was little and I can see how this will be a really enjoyable addition to my routine.

* Breaststroke > Freestyle. I swam freestyle about 95% of the time but, God, breaststroke is awesome.

* Swimsuits are really wet when you get out of the water and it is hard to change your clothes quickly when you’re wet. Transition. I get it now.

Just like after my first foray into cycling, I can’t wait to do my next swim workout! Since it’s so easy on my body, I might go tomorrow!

Finished off TriFri with a “blazing” (FOR ME.) tempo run at the lake. I keep waiting for someone to take away these speedy legs and give me mine back…Except, please don’t!

Exqueeze me? Baking powder?

Any of y’all swim? Swimming tips for a n00bie?

Also, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn’t eat any “healthy alternatives” to ANYTHING!